Rain seems to be a central theme of my blog posts lately, however I won't dwell on it too much; while it has tested our patience, and our raincoats, it hasn't dampened our spirits.
Anyway, having spent eight days enjoying the splendour of Tuscany, I can certainly recommend it for lovers of food, art and wine. Check, check, and check!
We spent four nights in Florence and then four nights in Siena, a base to explore the old villages dotted around the countryside.
On the way to Florence we stopped for a quick visit to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It was a tower, and it was most certainly leaning, but the heat and hoards of tourists and hawkers left us uninspired to stick around and explore any further. Not the first, and probably not the last time I have felt this way about famous sights/tourist attractions. Not to be taken for arrogance or indifference, just personal preference.
I digress.
After a short visit to the picturesque city of Lucca, we carried on to our campsite in Fiesole, a small village in the hills above Florence (with incredible views over the city). It was a bit of an adventure getting there, as ever the helpful contraption, our GPS aka Barbara, decided to take us on a shortcut down some back roads. Well, let me tell you that I can see why they all drive small vehicles in Italy! It got a little hairy where half way up a steep hill was a tight bend around the corner of a building and a stone wall that I was fairly sure a horse and carriage would have struggled with. We made it, albeit glad that the cheap and cheerful paint job on our van makes it hard to spot the small scrape marks above the right rear wheel! Oops!
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| Lucca |
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| Lucca |
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| Admiring ceramics in Lucca |
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| View over Florence from the camp |
Florence is simply a beautiful city, rich in history and art (and crowds of tourists). For me, apart from wandering the maze of cobbled streets (a line that I probably use far too often), it was nice to give a few historical names a bit more context. We visited a number of sites and also took a walking tour. Here are a few interesting things that we learned:
The Medici family was responsible for some of the most stunning areas of Florence. They were a powerful banking family during the cities time as capital of Italy. They were so rich and powerful they built a family tomb with a dome large enough to fit the family tombs as well as that of Christ (which is historically located in Jerusalem). They actually tried to purchase and move the tomb of Christ from Israel to Italy!. They reigned for over 300 years but due to inbreeding and disease the whole bloodline has been wiped out!
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The Duomo that houses the Medici family tomb, and was intended for the tomb of Christ.
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Michaelangelo's David stands at 17' tall and was carved out of an unwanted slab of marble. Originally the marble was deemed too damaged by porous holes, and no one wanted to work with the material. Michaelangelo offered to carve the statue for the Medici family for a fee (he was in his early 20s at the time) and he managed to do a pretty good job considering it is often referred to as the most famous sculpture in the western world! Also interesting is that the Medici family had taken him under their wing as a young boy (14) and raised him in the Palazzo Vecchio and other state houses after noticing his talent for art and sculpture at a very young age.
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| Michaelangelo's David |
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| Big hands?... |
The Il Duomo is famous for being the 4th largest cathedral in the world, it's Dome was designed by famous architect Filippo Brunelleschi and has stood for over 500 years!
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| Some scary devil story going on here... |
The Palazzo Vecchio, Uffizi, Ponte Vecchio and Pitti Palace are all famous buildings in Florence interconnected by a passageway running from the centre of town and across the Arno river. It was installed so the Medici family could easily move between buildings and avoid assasins and enemies during their near 300 year reign of power.
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| Ponte Vecchio |
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| Passageway from Ponte Vecchio to the Pitti Palace |
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| Palazzio Vecchio |
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| View from Piazza Michelangelo |
On to Siena and into the heart of Tuscany. Of course this was not before we jammed the duvet in the side door of the van, wedging it steadfast in a not-quite shut position, and Shaun spent the evening trying to free it. One mangled duvet later, we'd thankfully managed to avioid call out to road side assistance...
On the way to Siena we stopped at a small medieval town called San Gimignano (said "San jimmy-nyah-no"). It is affectionately known as the "Medieval Manhattan" due to its numerous towers. Again, think small walled city atop a hill with church, bell tower, and maze of cobbled streets. However, the simple description doesn't quite do the atmosphere of the place (and other similar places) a fitting justice. I still find it remarkable to be walking along streets that have been walked over for nearly 1000 years, and visiting buildings that have, in one form or another, existed in that spot for equally as long.
San Gimignano and Monteriggioni are located along Via Francigena, and old pilgrim road that once connected Canterbury, England, with Rome. Apparently it was a very dangerous road to travel, as it was not constructed as a main road between important places, but more a series of connecting tracks covering a great distance over difficult terrain which was notoriously full of bandits!
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| San Gimignano |
After getting thoroughly saturated in an unanticipated downpour, we made our way to Siena. Siena is another interesting town, and was certainly a great place to base ourselves for exploring more of Tuscany.
Siena is famous for its Horse race, The Palio, in which local districts compete in a race around the main plaza, Piazza de Campo, bareback!. It is held twice a year on July 2nd and August 16th. In the province of Siena it's regarded as the most important sporting event of all, even more popular than football!. We visited the plaza and it is immense, as is the Cathedral which is very impressive with its black & white striped exterior and interior.
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| Piazza de Campo |
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| View over the Duomo |
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| Siena Duomo |
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| Siena Duomo, rain clouds aren't all bad |
We did two tours while we were in Siena, and also took a short visit to the fortified town of Monteriggioni. One of the tours was a day trip to visit the towns of Montalcino, Pienza and Montepluciano, including wine tasting. Despite the transport being a tour bus, we actually spent most of the day exploring the towns on our own accord, following the cursory introduction and history lesson, which suited us just fine. The wine tasting was a hoot - it was on a vineyard that gives all its profits to students, and we were hosted by an 86 year old man, who our tour leader warned us had the 'vitality of a 26 year old'. We soon figured out that this was because he enjoyed chatting up all the young ladies that come through on the tours! Five wines, a shot of grappa and light snacks of local prosciutto, pecorino cheese and biscotti made for a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon!
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| Our hilarious old host, giving away wine in a prize draw. |
Montalcino is famous for its wine, Brunello de Montalcino (which is delicious by the way!). Pienza is a very small village which is a Unesco world heritage site due to it being the birthplace of Pope Pius II. It has stunning views over the Valley D'Orcia which is also Unesco listed and is also famous for certain scenes in Gladiator (which Shaun enjoyed seeing!). Monteculpiano is also famous for its wine (Nobile de Monteculpiano) and its position on the top of a rather large hill overlooking vast Tuscan landscapes, a real leg killer and stomach churner after too many wines.
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| Pienza |
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| Pienza |
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| Watching the rain roll in over the Valley D'Orcia |
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| Found some new wheels in Monteculpiano! |
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| My kind of wine glass! |
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| Monteriggioni |
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| Tuscan countryside near Monteriggioni |
The other tour we did was actually an organised meal in a Tuscan Villa on a country vineyard. The evening started with a short visit to the small town of Castellina in Chianti, where we shared prosseco with two others on the tour, before we were taken to the vineyard. On arrival we were welcomed with more wine and an abundant antipasto platter, set outside on a terrace where fortuitously the rain clouds had lifted to reveal a gorgeous sunset against the beautiful Tuscan countryside. Perhaps we'd been primed by the prosseco, but it was shaping up to be everything we imagined a Tuscan feast to be, and it was perfect! We then enjoyed four courses of Tuscan cuisine, including a vegetable soup, pasta, grilled meat, followed by panacotta. The Chianti Classico was flowing, and no one was ready to leave when the evening drew to a close. An evening I won't forget in a hurry!
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| Tuscan Villa where we enjoyed dinner |
All in all, we were sad to be leaving Tuscany, but excited to see what the south of Italy would have in store for us, and whether I could eat any more pasta before having to buy bigger trousers...
Ciao,
Catherine & Shaun
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